Kind students offering help to city’s homeless

Cut above : Students from Meadowcroft School will be helping the homeless.

Nick Frame

Published:11:27Friday 07 December 2018

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Students at a Wakefield school for troubled teenagers will be offering free meals and haircuts to the homeless as part of a new project.

The enthusiastic youngsters from Meadowcroft School are gearing up to open their doors at The Works on Garden Street, and have been preparing for the day.

They are being supported by the Wakefield charity, the Community Awreness Programme, which provides support for the city’s homeless.

School co-ordinator Carla Edwards said: “We asked the older students to create a project to work on , and they looked at various topics and they a linked in with the homeless.

“They wanted open up The Works to cook meals and give free haircuts, so we took it to the senior leadership team and they gave us the go-ahead.

“We spoke to Kev Dobson at CAP in Wakefield he was fully on board with it.”

Meadwocroft caters for students who have complex social, emotional and mental health needs and offers vocational skills such as mechanics, construction and hair and beauty.

Carla added: “These are people who have been rejected from mainstream schools and are not the easiest to engage or had the easiest start in life.

“For them to come up with this is massive, and they have been so enthusiastic. They’ve been out canvassing in the rain and had a lot of donations, especially from the Asian and Polish communities. We have never done anything like this before, but the level of empathy these students are showing is amazing, it’s really heartwarming.”

Kev Dobson, project manager at CAP added: “It was the kids who came up with the idea which make sit so powerful

“We are happy to support it and some of our staff will be there on the day to help them.”

The Works will be open on Sunday, December 16, from 10.30am to 3.30pm offering free hair cuts, meals and takeaway food.